resealing tank

[myclang]

So I decided to resilicone my 54 corner bow. I can't help to wonder though. If I removed the exposed silicone and reapply new silicone to the inside of the tank the new silicone must have to touch the old silicone between the panes of glass. It's known old silicone and new silicone don't adhere together. how is this new seal going to be better than the original because, the original seal is ONE piece consisting of the inner silicone connected to the silicone between the panes of glass. Just looking for some reassurance and education that this is a better choice than just buying a new tank.

 

[btkrausen]

Personally, I'd never reseal my own tank. For peace of mind, I'd recommend buying a new tank instead of potentially causing a disaster in your house

 

[Stinger]

Personally, I'd never reseal my own tank. For peace of mind, I'd recommend buying a new tank instead of potentially causing a disaster in your house

+ 1 on that!!

 

[myclang]

So I went from everyone a couple days ago telling me to reseal my tank because, of worn silicone to now just buy a new tank? :/

 

[cdness]

If you are going to do it, first off remove ALL and start over by re-assembling the tank. Make sure you use the RTS silicone which is a silicone based adhesive, not just the sealant type.

 

[myclang]

You mean remove ALL the silicone, including the silicone between the glass? everything I've read online told me to just do the inner tank silicone covering the seams.

 

[myclang]

BTW CDNESS! I did end up making my first trip to SWE last friday. THANK YOU for the tip on going there. LI helped me out. He of course told me not to reseal the tank but, everyone on here a few days ago told me how easy it is. I'm just nervous now. :/

 

[Wy Renegade]

I've resealed several tanks without issue, and I would never remove all the silicon and dissassemble the entire tank. Doing so would require you to remove both the top and bottom bands which is a huge pain. I used a scrapper to remove all the silicon from the four corners, and then simply reapply a new bead to the four corners of the tank and around the bottom (if silicon bead exists here). If your using a stand all glass aquarium, there should be no silicon between the panes of glass so there is no old to bond with the new. The four sheets of glass are held together by the top and bottom plastic bands. Once sealed, check for leaks. JME

 

[myclang]

I do have an all glass 54 corner bow front aquarium. There is silicone between all the panes of glass straight to the outside of the tank, as well as the top and bottom plastic bands. I'm guessing don't remove all that silicone between the glass though?

 

[BarbH]

I agree with Wy Renegade, I would not disassemble the panes of glass. I have only ever resealed one tank, I am not very experienced with diy projects, and did not have any problems with mine. One of the tips that I had come across when I was researching how to reseal my tank, is that once you remove the old silicone is to use rubbing alcohol to make sure the glass is clean before applying your new silicone. I was a little ocd when I did mine and cleaned the glass about 5 times with rubbing alcohol, letting it dry completly between each cleaning before applying my silicone. I have read of people using other things to make sure the glass is clean, at the moment I can't recall what they are, but for me the rubbing alcohol was something that I already had at home.

 

[myclang]

Thanks barb. How long has your tank been holding since you resealed it? I believe most other people use Acetone to help disolve any leftover residues of silicone and use Rubbing alcohol to clean any oils, contaminents, etc off the glass. Believe me I'll be just as OCD as you were

 

[BarbH]

I resealed the tank about a year ago, with no problems. I recently broke it down when I set up my sw, but I would have no reservations about using it again or selling it to someone else (would of course let them know that I had resealed it). When I got the tank I was told that it held water, never checked it before resealing, the silcone was pretty old and peeling away so decided to reseal it to start off with. Couple of other things I would suggest is to wait the time that the silcone requires for curing if not a couple of days longer (again my ocd coming out on something like this) before water testing it. Than I would fill and let it sit for a week to make sure that have no leaks. One other tip that I had come across that I used when I did my tank was to use tape to tape off the corners to help give a clean edge on your corners.